Electro/optic transceiver modules conventionally include light emitting and light receiving elements that perform photoelectric conversion to provide bidirectional transmission of data between an electrical interface and an optical fiber.
Pluggable transceiver modules are a special type of transceiver designed to be detachably attached inside a cage mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB). Electrical contacts are formed on the PCB within the cage to provide the electrical interface to the transceiver. Light is coupled into and out of the transceiver via a plug receptacle that is arranged on the transceiver and into which an optical connector can be plugged. The transceiver thus constructed enables optical communication by converting an optical signal transmitted to and received from the optical fiber into an electric signal transmitted to and received from the PCB.
A desirable characteristic of pluggable transceivers is that their designs assure relative ease of installation/removal in the field. It is highly desirable that a transceiver module be capable of being installed or removed in a relative short period of time without the necessity of special skills or dexterity on the part of the installer.
Increasingly popular are pluggable transceivers of a small construction, known as Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) transceivers. Standards for SFP transceivers are set forth in the “Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) Transceiver Multisource Agreement (MSA),” which is hereby incorporated by reference. The SFP MSA standardizes the shapes and sizes of the SFP transceivers and their cages to establish compatibility between optical transceivers of various vendors. Standards for a 10 gigabit/second SFP, known as the XFP, are set forth in the XFP MSA Specification, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
In industrial applications, there is an increasing need for the high data bandwidth offered by fiber optic systems. Unfortunately, conventional pluggable transceivers, particularly standard SFP transceivers, are not designed to operate under the harsh environmental conditions found in many industrial settings. Indeed, if such transceivers are exposed to extreme environments, they are likely to become unreliable due to moisture and/or contamination. To avoid this, the transceiver, its cage, connectors and host PCB are typically placed in an environmentally sealed housing or behind a sealed panel to insolate against the elements. Doing this makes it inconvenient and time consuming to plug/unplug the transceiver module because the housing or panel must first be removed in order to access the transceiver.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a ruggedized, environmentally-sealed system that allows fiber optic communications and pluggable transceiver modules to be more conveniently employed in harsh operating environments.